European Football Championship 2008: Footballers - born or made?

The question is almost as old as football itself, and while it will probably never be answered conclusively, it hasn’t stopped scientists from trying…

Studies have found that players as disparate as Ossie Ardiles, Sir Stanley Matthews and Gazza had one physical quality in common: ring fingers significantly longer than their index fingers. The implication is that certain boys between eight and 12 weeks old are susceptible to high amounts of testosterone – and as a result could end up stronger, with better spatial awareness and, er, longer ring fingers!

While we haven’t analysed the growing patterns of those in the Castrol Performance Index, we have studied their birth dates. And those born in September, October or November appear to have a better chance of becoming a footballer than those born in June or July. These players were likely to be the oldest, and possibly strongest, in their school year and so better at catching a coach’s eye than their smaller, younger counterparts.

It’s a pattern shared by England’s Premier League. The Association of Football Statisticians studied the birthdates of 1,779 men who played in the league between 1992 and 2005. They found that 14.7 per cent were born in September, 12.9 per cent in October and 12.6 per cent in November, compared to a typical percentage of the UK population born in each of these months of between eight and nine per cent.

“Little, fat Müller”

Such a conclusion is at odds with Index luminaries like Lukas Podolski and Wesley Sneijder, both summer babies. Yet six of the Index’s top 16 stars do support the theory, including Italian striker Antonio di Natale and German stopper Jens Lehmann (a November arrival).

Clearly this is not an exact science, however, and history is littered with players who made the grade despite not fitting the mould. Ryan Giggs was thought too short. And the sturdy Gerd Müller was deemed the wrong shape to the point where he was described as “little fat Müller” by his first club coach – quite a moniker for Germany’s all-time top scorer.

Gene rummy

Genetics can also play a part in a footballer’s destiny. The Charltons in England, the Maldinis in Italy: genetics do matter. In some cases, the link is tangential. Take Italian stopper Gianluigi Buffon (pictured top), for example, whose shot-stopping ability sees him fourth in the goalkeeper rankings: his dad was a weightlifter, his mother a discus thrower, his two sisters played volleyball, one uncle was a goalkeeper and another played basketball.

Denmark’s Laudrup brothers were perhaps more genetically destined to make their living from spherical objects. Their father Finn represented Denmark at football, as did their mother at handball. (Michael’s sons Mads and Andreas currently play football for Denmark at youth level.)

It doesn’t always work, though. Stefan Beckenbauer loved football so much that Germany coach Helmut Schön told his famously elegant dad, Franz: “The boy is football crazy. What a pity you weren’t.” Stefan had the desire and the genes but not the genius: the highlight of his career was one season – 1979/80 – at newly promoted Saarbrucken.

(http://euro2008.castrolindex.com/?language=en)

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This release was published on openPR.